Evolutionary Psychology - The Diary of a CEO with Dr Gad Saad

Dr Gad Saad is an evolutionary psychologist and Professor of Marketing at Concordia University. He is also the author of books such as, ‘The Parasitic Mind’ and ‘The Saad Truth About Happiness: 8 Secrets for Leading the Good Life’.

The Evolutionary Pursuit of Truth and Freedom

• Dr. Gad Saad devotes his life to the pursuit of truth and the defence of freedoms.
• The pursuit of truth is seen through the scientific method, accepting that truth is provisional and requires epistemological humility.
• Freedom entails that no research should be off-limits, as long as it is pursued in an unbiased manner pursuant to the scientific method.
• A growing intrusion of the concept of "forbidden knowledge" suggests that research might be suppressed if it is perceived to offend or marginalize a group.
• Science exists independently of whether it supports one's ideology. Trying to understand cancer, for example, requires studying it honestly, not advocating for it.
• The rejection of biology in explaining human affairs (biophobia) is seen as the initial trigger for the subsequent rise of parasitic ideas like wokeness.

The Evolutionary Behavioral Science Framework

• Evolutionary behavioral science argues that human behavior cannot be studied without understanding how evolution shaped the human mind. This approach looks for the ultimate Darwinian signatures in human phenomena.
• A key challenge is the negation of innate and evolved sex differences in social sciences, often leading to professional consequences for researchers. Research showing female superiority is often accepted, while research showing male superiority is suppressed to avoid promoting "sexist patriarchal stereotypes".
• Humans are biological beings shaped by sexual and natural selection, and this foundational principle is often denied in academic and social contexts.

Innate Sex Differences in Mating and Cheating

• Monogamy is not naturally inherent in humans, although it is institutionalised in about 85% of documented cultures because humans are a biparental species.
• Men are much more likely to desire more sexual partners than women, a finding consistent across many studies and cultures.
• Women also have a strong desire for sexual variety, though not to the same degree as men. Women are most likely to cheat when they are maximally fertile and are less likely to insist on contraception during infidelity if the goal is to shop for superior genetic stock.
• Women who cheat typically seek a partner of higher phenotypic (genetic) quality than their long-term partner, demonstrating the "sexy son hypothesis".

Paternity Uncertainty and Its Evolutionary Consequences

• Paternity uncertainty (the male can never be 100% sure he sired the child, unlike the mother) is a fundamental danger to male genetic interest.
• The most dangerous individual a woman will ever meet is her husband, and the overwhelming number one reason for domestic violence leading to homicide is suspected or realized infidelity.
• The number one predictor of child abuse in a home is the presence of a stepparent, which is a hundredfold more predictive than other factors (e.g., alcoholism, past abuse). This speaks to an evolved calculus in the brain to avoid investing resources in non-biological kin.
• Comparative primatology shows that the size of male testes is an adaptive response to female promiscuity in a species; greater female promiscuity means larger testicles (e.g., chimpanzees), while low promiscuity means smaller testicles (e.g., mountain gorillas).
• The morphology of human sperm includes "blockers" and "killers" designed to hunt other men's sperm, suggesting a history of female promiscuity where a woman may have been with multiple men within a 72-hour period.

The Mate Desirability Score and Assortative Mating

• Humans are seen as multi-attribute "products" in the mating market, where a mate desirability score (MDS) is calculated based on all attributes (e.g., status, ambition, looks).
• The number one universal attribute women seek in men is social status (e.g., ambition, assertiveness, dominance, income, education).
• Men are attracted to signals of physical beauty and youth in women.
• Assortative mating is the rule for long-term relationships ("birds of a feather flock together"), meaning partners should share similar values, goals, and mindsets. People generally assort with partners who have a similar overall MDS.
• The likelihood of a couple staying together is predicted by whether their MDS scores stay in line or begin to diverge. Divergence (e.g., the high school quarterback becoming degenerate while the cheerleader becomes a neurosurgeon) creates stress and predicts divorce.
• All other things equal, men's mate value tends to increase with age, while women's mate value tends to decrease with age.
• Traits that can reduce a woman's MDS include aging, being tall (as women almost universally desire a taller partner), and being highly educated (as high-status women insist on partners who are equally or higher status).
• Creativity, expressed through talent (e.g., music, art), is highly attractive in men as it signals underlying intelligence, discipline, and potential status.

The Crisis of Masculinity and Social Dynamics

• Men often lack the boldness and confidence required for successful courtship because a cultural dynamic, partly fueled by radical feminism and "toxic masculinity" narratives, has made men afraid to approach women.
• Mandatory sexual training modules in universities, coupled with the concept of a compliment being misinterpreted as "sexual violence," discourage men from initiating contact.
• Masculinity is not toxic; the qualities women fantasize about (e.g., a confident fireman saving a puppy) are examples of masculinity.
• Self-awareness and theory of mind are crucial for social interaction. Lack of self-awareness (e.g., lecturing a stranger for 25 minutes) is a common cause of social failures. Autistic children, for instance, often fail on theory of mind tests.
• Men who are shorter or less conventionally attractive can compensate by improving traits like assertiveness, ambition, vocabulary, and fitness.
• Men in the lowest 50% of the dating pool who struggle with sex, video game addiction, or incel tendencies should focus on hitting the treadmill, reading more, and learning to speak better.
• The "honey badger" archetype represents ideal qualities of resilience, toughness, and ideological fierceness in defending first principles.

Ethical Systems and Forbidden Knowledge

• There are two main ethical systems: deontological ethics (absolute statements, e.g., never okay to lie, freedom of speech is absolute) and consequentialist ethics (outcomes-based, e.g., it's okay to lie to spare feelings).
• Foundational principles like freedom of speech, the pursuit of truth, and the presumption of innocence must be deontological. Allowing consequentialist intrusions into these principles leads to the breakdown of society (e.g., sanctioning lying about Hunter Biden's laptop).
• No ideology or belief system is above scrutiny. Tolerating offensive speech (short of direct incitement to violence) is necessary in a free society, with bad ideas defeated by better ideas, not suppression.
• The idea of forbidden knowledge, where research is deemed too dangerous because of potential negative downstream effects (e.g., supporting racist narratives), is seen as a "grotesquely dangerous principle".

The Parasitic Mind and Ideological Brainworms

• The "parasitic mind" metaphor uses the concept of neuroparasitology, where actual physical brainworms (like *Toxoplasma Gondii*) enter a host's brain and alter its circuitry to suit the parasite's interests (e.g., making a mouse attracted to cats).
• Human minds can be parasitized by ideological brainworms. Postmodernism is considered the "granddaddy of all parasitic ideas," arguing there are no objective truths.
• These parasitic ideas start with a noble goal (e.g., social justice) but prioritize that goal above truth, viewing the murder of truth as "collateral damage".

The Mismatch Hypothesis and Modern Challenges

• The Mismatch Hypothesis states that many modern problems arise from phenomena that were adaptive in our ancestral past but are maladaptive in the contemporary world.
• A classic example is the preference for fatty foods, which was adaptive during caloric scarcity but leads to chronic disease in an environment of plenty.
• Pornography is an exaptation (a feature that piggybacks on an existing adaptation, not an adaptation itself) that exploits men's evolved preference for visual stimuli and sexual variety, trapping them in maladaptive behaviors.
• Porn addiction is seen as a disregulation of the sex drive, similar to how Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a disregulation of adaptive scanning for threats. The shame associated with porn consumption indicates the user is likely in "disregulation mode".

Social Structures, Reciprocity, and Kin Investment

• The Kin Selection module drives investment in kin based on genetic relatedness. People give larger gifts or invest more in family members with a higher coefficient of genetic relatedness (e.g., siblings (0.5) over nieces/nephews (0.25)).
• Reciprocal altruism (I scratch your back, you scratch mine) is an evolved mechanism that oils social bonds, originating from survival strategies in the savannah where sharing resources (like meat) mitigated risks of caloric scarcity.
• Social connections are crucial: the quality of your social relationships is a better predictor of your health in the long term than your cholesterol scores at age 50.

Happiness and Life Choices

• Individual differences in happiness scores are about 50% genetic, leaving the other 50% up for good choices and mindsets.
• The two choices that will impart the greatest happiness or misery are the choice of spouse and choice of profession.
• The best path to occupational happiness is having temporal freedom (not scheduling asphyxia) and a job that allows one to instantiate their creative impulse.
• Birth order research suggests that later-borns are more likely to be creative and out-of-the-box thinkers because they are forced to differentiate themselves from older siblings to secure parental investment ("Darwinian niche partitioning hypothesis").
• Meaning and purpose are essential because human consciousness transcends mere survival and reproduction.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
02:27 What Drives Your Life Purpose?
05:22 What Does An Evolutionary Behavioural Scientist Do?
08:45 The Top Predictor of Child Abuse in the Home
13:39 The Most Dangerous Person a Woman Can Meet
17:16 Is Cheating Ever Justified?
18:42 Is Monogamy Really Natural?
25:43 Why Do We Care for Our Families?
29:09 Why Do Children Resemble Their Fathers
34:53 What Are Your Most Controversial Beliefs?
38:31 How Much of Human Behaviour Is Driven by Sex?
44:55 What Is a Mate Desirability Score?
53:44 Can We Predict a Couple’s Success?
57:18 What Makes Men and Women Desirable?
59:57 The Confusion Around Masculinity
01:09:10 What It Really Feels Like to Be a Woman
01:13:59 How to Build Self-Awareness
01:20:05 What Exactly Is a Beta Male?
01:21:27 How to Achieve High Status as a Man or Woman
01:23:16 Struggling to Find a Partner? Here's What to Do
01:25:58 Is Porn Good For Us?
01:33:42 How Porn Addiction Affects Productivity
01:37:03 How Society Conflicts with Evolution: Parenting Advice
01:38:34 The Secrets to Living a Happy Life
01:40:44 Do Opposites Attract?
01:48:50 Does Your DNA Determine Happiness?
01:58:43 The Woke Culture 
02:04:01 Can Freedom of Speech Be Harmful?
02:24:33 Speaking the Truth in Research Shouldn’t Hurt Others
02:35:26 Is Society Unfair to Certain Groups? 
02:39:45 Equality of Opportunity vs Equality of Outcome
02:44:58 Would You Vote for Trump?
02:54:06 The Last Guest Question